Pointless? It's turned our lives upside down! Alexander Armstrong and Richard Osman on what it's like being catapulted to stardom | Daily Mail Online Pointless? It's turned our lives upside down! Alexander Armstrong and Richard Osman on what it's like being catapulted to stardom Richard and Alexander found unlikely fame in Pointless Richard joined by chance after starting as a producer The show regularly fetches 4 million viewers The two claim that the show isn't 'nasty' like the Weakest Link comments Gosh but these Pointless boys are so nice. You could take them home to your grandmother for afternoon tea. Even when they're venturing into blokey territory, they scamper back pretty quickly. Alexander Armstrong, one half of the duo who host the BBC1 teatime game show that's become a surprise TV hit, covers his head with his hands as he recalls swearing in front of the blessed Mary Berry. He says he's never quite recovered. She was on the show, filming one of the celebrity specials, and he lost his head for a moment and 'dropped an F bomb. She wasn't impressed. I wanted to die. I still wake up in a cold sweat thinking about it now.

Every time I watch Bake Off I'm consumed with shame. It's like swearing in front of the Queen.' Richard Osman (left) and Alexander Armstrong (right) have rocketed to fame after appearing in the hit game show Pointless His Pointless co-star (or 'Pointless friend' for those in the know) Richard Osman, an old mate from Cambridge University, nods and ribs him about other times he's mucked things up. 'It's because you're not a proper game show host,' he says, and they have a bit of a laugh about how you'd never get Vernon Kay dropping the sort of clangers they do. RELATED ARTICLES Share this article Share 'The thing is, we're pretty rubbish game show hosts,' says Alexander. 'We don't even look like game show hosts.' They're right. Traditionally, game show hosts are of the shiny, Saturday night, cheesy-smiley variety. Alexander is smiley, sure, but it's an apologetic sort of smileyness rather than a smarmy one. He says he's no oil painting, which is a bit harsh, but it's true that he has ears almost as big as his head.

Richard Osman, meanwhile, is a giant of a man – he's 6ft 7in – which is odd in TV-land where people tend to have pixie proportions. He has thick glasses and a condition called nystagmus that makes it difficult to make eye contact and read an autocue. None of that mattered for most of his professional life, where he was a major backstage player in the game show world, devising and working on shows like Deal Or No Deal, 8 Out Of 10 Cats and Whose Line Is It Anyway?. Alexander is still mortified by the fact that he used the 'f-word' in front of Mary Berry on the show It was quite by chance that he ended up with a starring role in Pointless, a show he devised in 2009. The format revolves around members of the public being polled on their general knowledge, before contestants try to guess what their responses will have been. The brilliant twist though is that the aim is to score as few points as possible (the clue's in the name!), so the contestants must try to choose the most obscure answers they can, answers the general public will have given least in the poll.

The show, which first aired on BBC2 but soon moved to BBC1 with regular audiences of 4 million, now goes out every weekday, and the regular celebrity series (six so far) on Saturday evenings have pulled in a staggering 7.7 million viewers. With each series up to 70 episodes long, it's no wonder they film four in a day. Richard played the part of the assistant presenter when it was first pitched to BBC bosses – and was so good he was asked to go on camera for the first time. Pointless fetches a regular audience of 4 million viewers since moving to BBC1 Now he's batting off the TV offers, revelling in his status as TV's most unlikely sex symbol (he's single since splitting from the mother of his two children), and seems bemused by the idea that he's been plucked from the backroom because he's something special. 'I think you'll find a lot of people behind the scenes on TV – writers, producers – are pretty witty and quite a clever bunch.

They're just, on the whole, lacking that gene that makes people want to be in front of a camera.' He's pretty glad he found he had that gene – or a smidgeon of it – relatively late in life. 'I think the whole celebrity thing might have been harder to handle if I'd been in my twenties,' he admits. (He's 43 now.) 'Maybe my head would have been turned. Now I'm pretty blasé about it. I still have a day job. Doing a turn in front of the cameras is more of a hobby. A nice one, granted, but I've got it in perspective.' He and Alexander (or Xander – pronounced 'Zarnder' – as his mates, including Richard, call him) must have had their fair share of female attention, though. Have they been sent anything dodgy in the post? They smile. 'We have had knitted versions of ourselves,' says Xander. 'That's definitely high on the "weird" scale.' Both have a healthy disregard for the business of celebrity, and are most entertaining on the subject.

Richard once joked he could never go on Strictly because if you do 'you're practically obliged to have an affair with your partner and that would take up a lot of my time'. The pair feature on the cover of Weekend magazine in this Saturday's Daily Mail The idea of him in fake tan and sequins, wrapped around a Russian dancer, is mind-boggling (convince him, please, Strictly), but one imagines he's well able to deal with divas. 'Oh yes, I've had some horrors,' he says, recalling his days marshalling the 'talent' rather than being it. 'There are stars who you think, "Why aren't they on TV any more?" I can tell you exactly why – because they annoyed far too many junior assistants who are now commissioning editors and simply will not work with them.' He reckons he was only asked to front Pointless because it started off in a low-key lunchtime slot. Would he have accepted the role if it had been a big Saturday night extravaganza from the start? 'Oh, that's interesting,' he says. 'To be honest, I don't think I'd have been asked.

They'd have gone straight to Vernon Kay.' So is he as clever as he seems on TV? In a word, yes, although he wears that lightly too, admitting he'd never go on a general knowledge quiz show 'because the potential to seize up and look thick is immense'. He worries that the arduous filming schedule for Pointless is, in fact, turning his own brain to mush. 'I think I get thicker and thicker with each show. By the end of a filming run my brain is so full of trivia it doesn't work. I'm like a flooded carburettor.' The other unlikely star of Pointless is Xander, 44, a man who on paper sounds insufferably smug (he is impeccably connected, and keeps llamas at his country pile in Oxfordshire), but in person couldn't be more down-to-earth. When the pair met at Cambridge, Richard, a working-class kid who grew up with a single mum in Billericay, Essex, read politics and sociology and expected to hate all the posh boys. Instead he found that the 'massive chip on my shoulder' was rubbed away by people like Alexander, who was reading English.

'He was posh, but what I like about him is that he never tried to de-posh, if that's a word. Actually, the more I got to know the public school people, the more I liked them, despite myself.' At Cambridge Alexander was a contemporary of the 'effortlessly cool' Ben Miller, who became his comedy partner in the sketch show Armstrong & Miller ('he was going out with Rachel Weisz at the time, which says it all'). Also on the scene were Mel and Sue of Bake Off fame ('I used to see Mel all the time; she was going out with a friend'), and Borat star Sacha Baron Cohen was around too. No one would have marked either of them out as future daytime TV stars, they agree. Alexander laughs about how his only rave review as a student was for his singing (he's a former chorister and trained baritone). For a while a career in music beckoned, then he came to his senses. 'I knew that even if I made it, it would involve a lifetime of staying in budget hotels in Düsseldorf.

It all seemed like too much of a slog.' Opera's loss was comedy's gain, and he had TV success with Armstrong & Miller, combining that with straight acting work. He's self-deprecating about this, though, joking about how he's spent his professional life going for jobs Hugh Bonneville ends up getting a BAFTA for. 'Even the ones I think are in the bag, aren't. I'll come home and say to my wife, "I think that's mine." Then it will go quiet, and months later Hugh will be announced in the part. I probably have Julian Fellowes (the writer of Downton Abbey) to thank for the fact I got the Pointless job. Obviously Hugh was busy.' Xander with Ben Miller in The Armstrong and Miller Show in 1999 The Pointless role came about quite simply because he wanted a 'regular job that paid a regular amount, because it's terribly important when you have young kids' (he has three boys). He was first offered the job as host of Countdown, but fretted about being pigeonholed. He said yes to Pointless because it was a similar style of programme, but less high-profile. His friends thought he was nuts, though.

'Well, it wasn't seen as edgy, was it? But then I've never been edgy. It was a leap into the dark, but it sounded fun. And when I learned Richard was involved, I thought, "This could work." Obviously it could also have gone very wrong,' Pointless has been the big surprise of the last few years in tellyland, a show that has a cult-like following akin to Countdown or Blockbusters, but with ratings to die for. In the past couple of years two spin-off books and two board games have been released, and earlier this year the first Pointless app went on sale. Much of the show's appeal is in the banter between the hosts, which was part designed, part happy accident. Interestingly, it was Richard's experience working across both game shows and panel shows that brought about the current mix. 'In the first series there was a lot of banter during filming, but it didn't make it into the show because we filmed, in typical game show style, with fixed cameras, so any jokes were easily missed if the camera wasn't on that person. Then we started having cameras trained on everyone, so nothing got missed, which is more of a panel-show type idea.

It worked.' So did the homespun feel of the show. Slick TV this is not. 'No, it's not polished. Actually it's anything but polished,' says Richard. 'Pointless in that bracket of "nice" TV, rather than "nasty" TV. We might have a bit of fun, and take people down a peg or two, but mostly it's not nasty in the way that The Weakest Link was' Richard Osman 'We have a bit of banter. We might talk about the fact that the news is coming up next. Our approach is very much, "We'll be here tomorrow. Tune in if you want. But if you have something better to do, don't worry. We'll be here anyway."' They say the secret of the show's success is that it's both high-brow and low-brow at the same time, in that questions can be about Brahms or Beyoncé. Surprisingly for two very clever guys, they aren't in the slightest bit elitist about these things, and aren't best pleased at those who are. 'Ann Widdecombe came on and boasted about how she didn't have a TV.

I don't think that's anything to be proud of,' sniffs Richard. Conversation with these two keeps coming back to the word 'nice', which is often a pejorative thing in TV land. 'It is, but I don't think it should be,' says Richard. 'I do put Pointless in that bracket of "nice" TV, rather than "nasty" TV. We might have a bit of fun, and take people down a peg or two if we think they're too cocky, but mostly it's not nasty in the way that something like The Weakest Link was. 'There's a move towards that sort of feelgood TV. You see it in shows like Bake Off, and it's nice – there it is again – to be involved with.' The fact that Armstrong makes a point of thanking people profusely for taking part exemplifies this. A lot of TV folk want to be edgy rather than engaging, but Richard says that 'niche' TV has never been his bag. 'Although sometimes you can be niche and nice, if you think of a show like Father Ted,' he says.

'Sometimes there's no great difference.' 'Only one letter,' quips Xander, neatly illustrating why they're the double act the nation's hooked on. Pointless, weekdays, 5.15pm, BBC1. The new series of Pointless Celebrities starts tonight on BBC1 at 5.40pm. The Pointless app is available now. BBC - BBC TV blog: Pointless: How I became the co-host Richard Osman | 12:57 UK time, Wednesday, 6 July 2011 So Pointless started at 5.15pm on BBC One on Monday, launching with a week of celebrity programmes. We've already done over 100 shows on BBC Two and now we're making the big leap up to BBC One. Very exciting. In one swoop I will go from being "Whassisname, that bloke from that thing on BBC Two," to "Whassisname, that bloke from that thing on BBC One". Alexander Armstrong and Richard Osman If you haven't seen it - for example, you might have a job - Pointless is a quiz show where you win by giving obscure answers to simple questions. We also like to have some fun along the way.

The wonderful Alexander Armstrong is the host and I'm his 'pointless friend', providing extra facts, trying to tell jokes, and adding to the Brokeback Mountain -style sexual frisson of the show. I had never appeared on TV before. My background is behind the camera. First as a writer on shows like Have I Got News For You and Whose Line Is It Anyway? , and then as a producer on shows as varied as Deal Or No Deal , Total Wipeout and 8 Out Of 10 Cats . My new TV presenting career came as an unexpected but lovely surprise. So how did it happen? Well, my day job now is creative director of Endemol UK , and part of that role is trying to sell new shows to TV channels. The Endemol creative team had come up with the format for Pointless and we headed off to the BBC to do a run through of the show for the brilliant Liam Keelan and Pam Cavannagh, who run the whole of BBC Daytime. In this run through, the executive producer of Pointless, Tom Blakeson , played the role of the host, and I played the role of co-host.

Liam and Pam were sufficiently impressed/hoodwinked that they bought the show. Hooray! Barney Harwood and Helen Skelton on Pointless Celebrities Alexander was the perfect choice as host - warm, witty, clever, sickeningly talented and handsome - but Liam and Pam wondered if I might like to be the co-host for real? I pretended to consider the offer for nearly two to three seconds, but inside I couldn't have been more excited. I love television, I love its presence in the corner of every living room in Britain, I love the sense of belonging that television uniquely can bring. To me, actually appearing on TV - in a quiz, my favourite thing, filming at BBC Televison Centre - is a dream come true. Excuse me while I get teary-eyed for a bit. I just hope you enjoy the show as much as we enjoy making it. So, that's the story so far. Now, though, it's the move to BBC One, to the slot filled so brilliantly for so long by Anne Robinson . We're not the Weakest Link ... hello. Richard Osman is the co-host of Pointless Celebrities and Pointless .

Pointless Celebrities is a week of special episodes on BBC One at 5.15pm until Friday, 8 July. The regular quiz show Pointless resumes on BBC One at 5.15pm on Monday, 11 July. Comments made by writers on the BBC TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC. Pointless You are at: Home » Shows »Pointless Pointless Shows Pointless is a quiz show, new to Challenge TV, hosted by Alexander Armstrong, with Richard Osman as assistant. The object of the game is to score as few points as possible by giving correct answers that the public have not given, or scoring lower than other contestants. The contestants particularly try to look for answers which score no points, which are known as “Pointless” answers. Finding a Pointless Answer adds £250 to the jackpot in rounds prior to the Final, and finding a Pointless Answer in the Final wins the game. At the beginning of the show there are four teams (five in the first series) of two players. Any team which does not reach the final of the show on their first appearance is invited back for a second (and final) appearance on the next show.

The show has a rolling jackpot, beginning at £1,000, with £1,000 added to the total each time the team in the final round fails to win (thus the jackpot in play at the start of the next programme is £1000 higher than the jackpot unsuccessfully played for in the preceding show). When the jackpot is won, the next show’s prize resets to £1000. The highest amount of money given out was £15,500 which was won on August 4, 2011. The topic was Hollywood Legends, and the question was Name Marlon Brando films. The Pointless answer was The Island of Dr Moreau. Pointless (Series) - TV Tropes Studio Audience Retired Game Show Element : The S1 head-to-head structure (one category, pairs answer alternately until one or both go over 100 points) and the S3-5 "choose from a prepared list of answers" questions are dead and buried, as is the rarely-used style of question in which two linked categories were used in the same round, one on each pass.

Rules Spiel : Shortened after the first series, which included a demonstration of the answer bar decreasing to varying lengths after different answers, using examples from questions from the previous episode. This show provides examples of: Aluminium Christmas Trees : A deciding head-to-head question was types of penguin, with alternating letters missed out of the names given. Both pairs only knew one, "Emperor," which the first pair gave. The second pair randomly guessed "Macaroni" as a joke as it seemed to fit one of the other answers. Not only do Macaroni Penguins exist, the answer was obscure enough to win the second pair the question and the game! Animation Age Ghetto :invoked One suspects Richard's not a fan of it, considering how he often comments how much he enjoys animated films and they are often a good way to get a Pointless answer in film category questions. Captain Obvious : Richard plays this sort of role in a self-aware and typically deadpan style when asked to explain a simple answer (perhaps taken to its extreme when the round was on "nationalities ending in -ian", and even worse when the round was on "countries that have no repeated letters").

In one January 2015 episode, the category "Capital cities in their native languages" came up, prompting one puzzled contestant to remark, "It all looks like it's written in another language". The gaffe did not go unnoticed or unpunished. Alexander: To be fair, it is written is several different languages. Catch Phrase : Discussed in one episode when the question was about Game Show catchphrases: Alexander: We haven't got a catchphrase! Richard: You've got a catchphrase! Alexander: I say "Very good indeed!" rather awkwardly - a lot. Richard: I say "Well done if you got that at home!", that's like a catchphrase isn't it? Alexander: "As ever, when we say country, we're looking for a sovereign state recognised by the United Nations." Richard: One of my catchphrases... "Let's take a look at the pointless answers - Central African Republic !" That's a catchphrase.

They briefly tried out a call-and-response one (which got a Call Back in another episode when the contestants failed to name the sitcom Bread ): Richard: Here's a Catch Phrase : 'That ain't bread, that's toast!' Alexander: "That ain't bread..." Richard: "That's toast!" In addition to his Rules Spiel and the ones discussed above, Xander has "Let's see if it's right, and how many people said it"; "I'm afraid you didn't have that pointless [theme of round] knowledge", "he's my pointless friend, he's Richard", and many more. And Richard has "We're looking for any feature film made for cinematic release in which [name of actor] is given an acting credit. No TV films, short films or documentaries - but voice credits do count", and "by country we mean a sovereign state and a member of the U.N in its own right." Crazy Enough to Work : Comes into play when people can only win by getting a very low-scoring, if not pointless answer, so they pick an answer they've never heard of or outright make something up. Winning is spectacular, but it's much more likely you'll end up in the "200 Club".

A wonderful example: with the question being about British MPs named David, Nick or Ed (the names of the leaders of the three political parties), one contestant admitted she had no idea and picked an answer by taking one of the names and a colour. Her answer - Nick Brown - was Pointless. Another contestant guessed that James Brown might have been an actor in The Dirty Dozen . Armstrong made fun of it, joking that the film could've done with a bit more funk... and then the column started going down! Jim Brown note who is famous as a football player in the USA, but largely unknown in Britain played a prisoner in the movie, and he was a pointless answer. This contestant had scored 100 with a correct answer in the previous round. Deadpan Snarker : Alexander and Richard both have their moments. This was then surpassed in March 2012 . The category was Robert Redford films, and only three of the 8 contestants had even heard of him. Seven Samurai and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time were among the 4 incorrect suggestions in the first pass, which were followed by two wrong answers in the second and another in the tie break.

To make matters worse, two of the surviving three pairs got wrong answers in the first pass in the second round, causing the hosts to need to remind the contestants that they actually were supposed to be aiming for low scores. Zizagged in a series 11 round on winners of the Best Actor/Actress at the British Soap Awards, which was another extremely high scoring round, though more through incredibly bad luck than ignorance. The first five answers all scored 100, as did the 7th, but the 6th and 8th scored four. This made the round the first in the show's history where only two different scores were achieved. Unlike previous cases where the contestants have known nothing of the subject, every answer given was a prominent soap star who just happened not to have won the award. Perhaps deservedly, the round delivered the first ever pointless answer given in a tiebreak. One episode involves a Round 2 question involving, 'Wishing Songs', or songs with the word 'wish' in their names. Every single one of the six contestants got 100 points, even during lockdown, resulting in every pair having 300 points before another question had to be brought out.

The high score ended up being 307. One of the celebrity specials had a person give a correct answer - but the answer scored 100 points. The music cue that went with it just made it all the more hilarious. Everything Sounds Sexier in French : Whenever a French word or place name comes up in the round, Alexander always enjoys pronouncing it in a fluent but overly enthusiastic manner, sometimes slightly intimidating the contestants who have just said that word in their normal English accent. Genre Blindness : Sometimes affects contestants who are "safe" — someone's scored a higher total than they could possibly get — who will still opt for a high-scoring answer they're confident of rather than taking a risk-free punt and potentially raising the pot. Getting Crap Past the Radar : An ornithological picture round had the hosts making all the 'tit' gags they could think of, ending with Richard saying, "Think we got away with that." A midwife claiming that the female reproductive system would be a good subject for her, causing Alexander to pretend to admit that he'd been asking Richard for that for ages - only not phrased in exactly those terms, as Richard quickly pointed out.

In a round about famous people named Richard, Osman milked the opportunity to say his own name as often as he could. Alexander's reaction to the 14 Richards the contestants were getting was "That's a whole lot of Dicks..." Hidden Depths : Richard will sometimes ask Alexander if he knows the answers after the contestants have had a go, and Alexander sometimes turns out to have unexpectedly detailed knowledge of some subjects (such as comic book heroes and villains). He does have a degree in English literature, and so can normally cover any related round with ease. In general he's normally better at the rounds than most of the contestants. Humiliation Conga : Alexander gets this when he reveals the word he'd thought of for the round of "Words ending in ...ind" was "befriend". Even one of the contestants inadvertently got in on it. Incredibly Lame Pun : All involving working the title into phrases . Guaranteed to happen at least once per episode with Alexander always introducing Richard as "my pointless friend..." Informed Attribute : Richard is very tall, but as he never gets up from his desk, all the jokes about it turn into this for the audience.

Richard did get up from his desk twice during the 300th episode - once to present Alexander with a gift, the other to show and hand out cake to the audience. Lame Pun Reaction : Xander will often give a silent display of satisfaction after making a particularly lame pun. Alexander: Where are you from? Contestant: We're from Halesowen. Last-Second Word Swap : Done gloriously by Richard in a Pointless Celebrities special which included Tony Blackburn, a past winner of I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here. As that show is known for making its contestants eat disgusting Australian 'bush tucker' as a challenge, Richard got some out, and said that any time a contestant got a question wrong and scored 100 points... "Xander has to eat some". Alexander's Double Take reaction has to be seen. In a round of "Words ending in ...air", Alexander was about to describe an incorrect (but worthy) answer as being "unfair" before realising and succesfully switching it with "unjust". Line-of-Sight Name : In one round where the contestants had to name authors, one man had no idea and went for "Richard Alexander".

(Just for the record, The Other Wiki has a page listing several real Richard Alexanders , none of whom are authors.) Little Known Facts : In the more recent series Richard has taken to mixing some of these into the actual facts about answers he reads out at the end of the round. His deadpan delivery is such that if the joke is subtle enough, sometimes the audience can't tell if they're straight facts or or not. Little "No" : Alexander tends to do this when a contestant gets a question wrong. Mission Control : Richard sits at a desk with a computer, giving detail on what answers they'll accept, explaining why wrong answers were wrong, etc. The computer is a prop, which was lampshaded when Alexander gave Richard a power cable for it in response to viewer complaints that it isn't plugged in . Mundane Made Awesome : Alexander announcing a tie in a 2011 episode in a hammy manner . The dramatic chord that plays when contestants step up to the podium, as well as the manner in which the coveted Pointless trophy is introduced. Similarily, the lights dimming and the set turning red in the Head-to-Head round.

Any time Richard makes a point of how many people have been requesting an upcoming round, how much fun it's going to be, how much he's looking forward to it, you can expect something utterly mundane like "types of trouser" or "varieties of lettuce". Alexander's stock line preceding the head-to-head round: "And this is where things get even more exciting!!" In one of the celebrity specials, Alexander announces the head-to-head as "the athletes versus the Chuckle Brothers !" Narrating the Obvious : Reasonably often, done by both hosts for a joke. Alexander generally makes a comment as the location of the red line that indicates the score a contestant has to beat in the second pass to guarantee their progress to the next round - if the line is nigh-indistinguishable from either the top or bottom of the score indicator (due to the contestant effectively needing only to get the question right or to get a pointless answer respectively), Alexander will note with knowing understatement that the red line is "quite high/low". Richard gives an explanation as to what a given correct answer means, which sometimes, particularly in the Words category, is incredibly obvious, leading to this.

He will however occasionally subvert it by giving a random definition, or one that makes fun of a contestant's ridiculous incorrect answer earlier in a round. Such subversions are guaranteed if an answer is legitimate and non-vulgar, but still inappropriate for extended discussion on a tea-time show - such as when the answer "jizz" was given (for 7 points) as a word ending in "zz". Overly Long Gag : The hosts painting an exquisitely detailed picture of Sebastian Faulks settling down with a cup of tea to watch Pointless, seeing "Sebastian Faulks novels" come on, pausing the telly and calling his whole family in to watch it... only to see neither team able to think of a single one. Richard: Poor old Sebastian Faulks. Sitting at home, nice cup of tea, thinking, "Oh, I like Pointless..." Alexander: "Oh, I tell you what, I'll have a little bit of a break from my new - what is it, my seventh novel?" Richard: Eleventh novel!

Alexander: "Eleventh novel - I'll just settle down and watch a little bit of Pointless..." Richard: Got the whole family sort of upstairs, doing things, and he says "Everyone! Everyone!" - presses pause - "They're doing me on Pointless! They're doing me on Pointless! They're gonna guess my novels! Wonder what they're going to say? Which of my novels do they like best, I wonder?" The whole family coming down the stairs - "What is it, Dad?" Alexander: "You're on Pointless? Quick! Dad's on Pointless!" Richard: All fifteen of the Faulks clan now, all sitting on sofas, he's just pressing unpause there, he's on live record - "Everyone, now, absolute quiet, sssh! Dim the lights! Pull the curtains, dim the lights, because there's a reflection on the screen!" Alexander: "Quickly! Ring everyone we know!" Richard: "There's a reflection on the screen! I can't see Tony! I can't see Tony's face when he's gonna say my novel!" And then... Look what you did !

Pants-Free : In the category "types of trouser", a beskirted female contestant complained that she was at a disadvantage, being the only one in the room not wearing trousers. Richard reassures her from behind his desk that he isn't, either. This has turned into a bit of a Running Gag with the number of times he's mentioned it. Fortunately he has turned out to be wearing them on the rare occasions a shot is taken from far enough to one side to see. Progressive Jackpot : £1000 is added to the jackpot every episode if it isn't won. £250 is added for every Pointless answer "The Reason You Suck" Speech : Richard and Alexander delivered one to both couples in the head-to-head after they failed to remember any Sebastian Faulks novels, asking them to imagine what he'd think if he was watching - see Overly Long Gag . Richard will sometimes give shorter ones to the anonymous 100 people in the surveys, in particular when more of them know something obscure about a frivolous subject like celebrities or reality TV than know something obvious about an important subject such as who's in David Cameron 's cabinet.

Retool : The show was revamped for HD broadcast in 2012, with a new set, a slightly changed colour scheme and some modifications to the question scheme: the first head-to-head question is now always a picture roundnote unless there has already been a picture question, in which case there will still be a picture round in the head-to-head but it will be the second or third question - and as of series 10, which started in September 2013, the picture round is no longer always the first, although there usually still is one, the second is usually a "Clues to Facts about X" round, and the winning pair have a choice of five rather than three categories for the final. A later revamp significantly cut down the " let's meet the contestants " bit at the beginning, scattering the introductions through the first round instead. As of episode 501, the final round consists of four categories rather than five, but there are three separate questions within it. Contestants still need to give three answers within 60 seconds, one pointless, but can mix and match between the three categories. The only caveat is, unlike with earlier rounds, the question being answered needs to be specified.

Fundamentally, this format-change allows the show to include questions for which there is only or two pointless answers (so as to avoid forcing contestants to give an incorrect answer, such questions were unusable before this). Rickroll : "Things That Rick Astley Is 'Never Gonna' Do" , with Richard playing the refrain of the song instead of reading off the answers. Rule of Three : In full effect - three pages of pointless answers will be shown at the end of a round (assuming there are that many) along with the three highest scorers, the head-to-head is a best-of-three competition, and three answers must be given in the final round. Originally, there were three categories to choose from, but a further revamp added three questions to the categories. Running Gag : Richard Osman supposedly being related to The Osmonds. The Central African Republic as an obscure answer for any question involving "Name a country that is X", invariably being Pointless. In a recent episode it actually scored 2 points and Richard joked that it was because they had been raising awareness for the country on Pointless for so long (the same thing happened in a series 8 episode with another oft-times pointless country, Vanuatu.

Richard joked that he'd been given a month's holiday by the country's tourist board, which he enjoyed much more than that of CAR, which was in the middle of a civil war at the time). Such is its infamy on the show, that on the 300th episode Richard gave Alexander a framed picture of the country as a present. Richard offering the opinion that Armstrong's comedy partner Ben Miller is the more talented of the pair, and that Mitchell and Webb are more talented than either of them, to which Armstrong, being the affable chap he is, will invariably meekly agree. Reached new levels on 2 March 2013 Comic Relief special of Pointless Celebrities as Ben Miller himself appeared as a contestant. After the contestants have been introduced and talked about their interests to Alexander, Richard claiming that the upcoming rounds are themed around one or more of the interests they have mentioned. Richard claiming a particular round is exhilarating, intense, or much-requested - only for it to inevitably be something like "types of trouser" or "varieties of lettuce". The show's catchphrases generally had become this by series 7, including the "That ain't bread! That's toast!" forced attempt at one.

The definition of "country" (and by "country," we mean any sovereign state that's a member of the UN) has become a veritable Overused Running Gag , with Richard visibly sighing when Alexander points out that he forgot to say it. Whenever a contestant mentions being interested in baking, Alexander and Richard will immediately assume that they've brought a cake and talk about how much they're looking forward to eating it. Actually happened in an episode in series 8 - the contestants were knocked out after the second round, and the promised cake was brought to them by one of the production staff at the end of the round. In later series, Alexander and Richard deriding younger contestants for using "it's before my time" as an excuse for not knowing answers on a given subject (such as mid-20th century film or music), frequently pointing out reasons why this isn't acceptable (such as the music still being on sale). Richard told a 93-year-old contestant that he would have no excuse for saying this. If a contestant says they're a civil servant, or is otherwise vague about their job, it will be suggested the contestant is actually a spy, which Xander and Richard think is the coolest job in the world.

Xander's mimes, particularly of eating. Schmuck Bait : Some of the wrong answers in the now-discontinued multiple choice rounds. Arguably, the very rare 100-point answers as well, since it should be obvious they're obvious (so to speak). The Scottish Trope : Discussed and spoofed in one episode, in which Richard said that he couldn't understand the big deal about Macbeth . He proceeded to say it repeatedly, against the warnings of Alexander about all the heavy machinery above their heads, whereupon the studio lights were briefly cut. A 2013 episode has a round where the answers are all Shakespeare plays, including Macbeth. Richard and Alexander discuss whether a TV studio is sufficiently un-theatre-like for it to be safe to say, and Alexander glances nervously at the studio lights, but nothing happens — except that Richard announces that his computer (by now well-known to be a non-functional prop) has mysteriously started working. Shout-Out : While eating a cake brought in by one of the contestants in an episode of series 8, both hosts delivered compliments in the style of The Great British Bake Off , quoting catchphrases of the hosts of that show as they did so.

Shrouded in Myth : Alexander has taken to introducing Richard in this way, similar to the Stig from Top Gear , emphasising his credentials in obscure knowledge. Alexander: He is our lantern in the twilit world of the half-known and the barely-remembered - he's my Pointless friend, he's Richard. Regarding the pointless astronomical phenomenon of "protostars": Richard: They're huge gas balls that haven't yet become a fully fledged star. Alexander: Like some of the people on Britain's Got Talent , you mean? Richard actually apologised to the contestants when the category was "Rolf Harris top 40 singles"note This was before Harris was accused and subsequently convicted of indecent assault on underage girls. Alexander once introduced Richard as "the only man who spends more time thinking about pointless things than the cast of The Only Way Is Essex ". Tempting Fate : So many times, Alexander will point out how close the Pointless Final answer is getting to zero...only for it to then stop.

The 100 Most Pointless Things in the World: A pointless book written by the presenters of the hit BBC 1 TV show (Pointless Books): Amazon.co.uk: Alexander Armstrong, Richard Osman: 9781444762044: Books By whatdoiputhere on 12 Oct. 2012 Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase After reading entry 19, I decided that the first thing I would do after finishing this book is write a long and pointless review for it on Amazon. I've been unreasonably excited to get my hands on 'The 100 Most Pointless Things in the World' ever since discovering it was being written (thank you, twitter), and now that it has arrived and I've read the entire thing from cover to cover in one sitting, I can gladly inform you that it exceeded all expectations. Xander and Richard, the fabulously charming, intelligent, witty and handsome gentlemen that they are, have really outdone themselves.

They make some surprisingly valid points about many things you've never even thought about, and while I disagree with some of them (*cough* readysaltedcrispsarethebestflavour *cough*) in most cases they really are spot on. And they're very funny too. Each of the 100 things has a short section dedicated to it which has been written up by one of the two men, indicated by whichever of their disembodied faces stares out at you from beside the chapter title. This is a system I failed to recognise until about a third of the way through the book, which is why I'm mentioning it in the review, as a heads-up. As well as this, there are even some nice quiz questions and pointless facts, and even some cryptic clues for anybody who no longer values their sanity of free time. Luckily there are also answers in the back. One final note to Mr Osman, just in case he ever chances upon this: Don't act innocent - I've been to a Pointless recording and I had a remarkably good view of your very brightly coloured rainbow socks. By DeargDoom on 8 Nov.

2012 Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase I actually counted down the days until this book was released and I was not disappointed. A fantastically funny countdown of Richard and Xander's 100 most pointless things - if you enjoy Richard's rants on the show then you'll love this book. I downloaded the Kindle version and was curious as to how the Q&A parts would work but its fine, you just click the link and it redirects you to the answer. Also there are a few hidden gems in this book!! Comment 17 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback... Thank you for your feedback. Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again By Dani2908 on 30 Oct. 2012 Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase I laughed so much reading this book, its really clever and funny. A lot of interesting facts too, random stuff that I've been telling everyone I know! The best bit is that you can share various topics with whoever you want (ie.

shouting at football on tv came in handy one day...!) There is a few questions and quizzy bits that are fun for the family to play, I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys pointless or just enjoys being entertained! Comment 21 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback... Thank you for your feedback. Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again By Non Sense on 26 Jan. 2013 Format: Hardcover This book is not pointless. In fact it is full of good points very well made and in a way that had me frequently laughing uproariously and reciting bits to anyone who would listen. Even the chapter headings make me laugh. It is not just 'one of those books based on a series you enjoy that will be a good extra pressie at Christmas/Birthdays to pad out the more expensive items'. Oh no. It is clever, hilarious and packed with facts and compulsive quizes.

The pictures that denote the author of each chapter are a nice touch but not necessary as it is impossible not to hear Richard Osman's voice as he denounces pandas or razors (and their increasing blade-age) or any such beef that has you nodding along gleefully. Likewise Alexander Armstrong's jovial flights of fancy have his DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid - well done if you got that at home) all over them. I highly recommend this book and suggest you don't relegate it to the bathroom. One final point to Mr Osman - how would we cope at the '99p shop' without 1p pieces? Comment 4 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback... Thank you for your feedback. Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again By Transmit Him on 3 Jan. 2013 Format: Hardcover Given how unsatisfying most TV tie-in books are, especially non-fiction ones, it was foolish to get my hopes up too much for this book. But this is Pointless, one of the most charming and funny shows on TV! I'm massive fan of the show, so of course I was quite excited by the prospect of this book.

Inevitably, it doesn't quite deliver. There are certainly good things about it. It's actually been written by the show's two hosts Xander Armstrong and Richard Osman (which is more than you can say about the fifty billion QI books out there) and their voices and humour definitely come through on the page. The premise is a good as well, a run down of 100 pointless things being a good structure in which to light-heartedly whinge and mock things. The trouble is that the book feels very slight and phoned in. A lot of the 100 entries are very short (and that's ignoring the comically short, one line entries for some things, a joke which is unfortunately over-used a tad) and don't really seem to get going anywhere. When Armstrong or Osman do get stuck into a topic, like Osman talking about 'toner', it's a lot of fun. But an awful lot of this book feels like padding. Osman reuses the cryptic clue fifty US states quiz he did on Twitter earlier in 2012, which is fair enough I suppose, not everyone's on Twitter. Many chapters are just questions reused from the TV show though, with a scant few lines introducing them.

Given that quite a lot of the people reading the book will have seen the show, it seems a waste of space to repeat them. And if they're that worth repeating, why not do a proper Pointless Quiz Book? This all makes the book a very quick read. Read more › Comment 9 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback... Thank you for your feedback. Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again Pointless (TV Series 2009– ) - IMDb IMDb There was an error trying to load your rating for this title. Some parts of this page won't work property. Please reload or try later. X Beta I'm Watching This! Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Error A game show where contestants aim to score the fewest points possible by guessing the least popular answers given by people in polls on various subjects.

Stars: a list of 26 titles created 15 Dec 2011 a list of 22 titles created 13 Jan 2012 a list of 32 titles created 05 Feb 2012 a list of 1188 titles created 08 May 2015 a list of 21 titles created 1 month ago Search for " Pointless " on Amazon.com Connect with IMDb Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. Pointless Celebrities (TV Series 2010) Game-Show Celebrities try to find the most obscure answers to win money for their chosen charities. Stars: Alexander Armstrong, Richard Osman, Anton du Beke The Chase I (TV Series 2009) Game-Show A Game Show where contestants must compete against 'The Chasers' in a variety of questions in order to win money. Stars: Bradley Walsh, Jenny Ryan, Mark Labbett The long-running words and numbers game.

Stars: Carol Vorderman, Richard Whiteley, Susie Dent The original British version of the quiz show that's become a worldwide hit. Host Chris Tarrant asks hopeful contestants a series of questions, each more difficult than the last. As the ... See full summary » Stars: Chris Tarrant, Eamonn Holmes, Stephen Fry You've Been Framed! (TV Series 1990) Comedy | Reality-TV Surreal comedy from the mind of Harry Hill, featuring his unique observations on the world's funniest accidents as captured on smartphones, video cameras, webcams & CCTV. If you've filmed a... See full summary » Stars: Harry Hill, Jeremy Beadle, Lisa Riley British general knowledge quiz show which spawned imitations around the world, notably in the USA. Stars: Anne Robinson, Jon Briggs, Adam Woodyatt Member of the public go head to head in a series if obstacle courses to win 10,000 Stars: Richard Hammond, Amanda Byram, Joanna Chappell TV Burp (TV Series 2001) Comedy Harry Hill stars in this surreal comedy show, revolving around the previous week's shows on British television.

Stars: Harry Hill, Steve Benham, Brian Belo Room 101 (TV Series 1994) Comedy | Talk-Show Comedy talk/game show in which celebrities present an argument for their pet hates in various categories to be banished forever to Room 101. Stars: Paul Merton, Frank Skinner, Nick Hancock A group of five strangers, each an amateur chef, compete to host the best dinner party, each party solely for the competitors and to be held on consecutive evenings. With a set amount of ... See full summary » Stars: Dave Lamb, Lesley Joseph, Bill Buckley A game show hosted by Ant and Dec filled with stunts, sketches, and special guest appearances. Stars: Anthony McPartlin, Declan Donnelly, Kirsty Gallacher Game show in which contestants try to guess well-known phrases or sayings from animated picture puzzles. Stars: Roy Walker, Nick Weir, Stephen Mulhern Edit Storyline A game show where contestants aim to score the fewest points possible by guessing the least popular answers given by people in polls on various subjects. 24 August 2009 (UK) See more » Company Credits Did You Know?

Trivia During a show, contestants were asked to name what food each type of food was. One option was Parmesan, which two contestants answered correctly as cheese. However, the two still got 100 points, as all the people surveyed knew the correct answer. See more » Quotes (United Kingdom) – See all my reviews I am a bit of a saddo, as I really like this show when I catch it. Alexander Armstrong is an excellent front man for it and I really like him as a performer and was surprised to see him doing this. He has a special quality which comes across to the viewer (well this viewer anyway). The premise is that people try to find a pointless answer to the question posed thereby scoring as low as possible. Gentle humour is employed throughout and I like the fact that no-one is humiliated or made fools of in any way. I feel that the programme would benefit from a little faster pace but that is a minor quibble. It is almost educational sometimes too as one finds out facts one did not know before. Long may it last. Well I am adding to my review 16 months on and I am still addicted to it. If anything more so.

It has really hit it's stride and Richard and Alexander's banter is witty, original and, unusually for a daytime quiz, funny. This one should run and run. 6 of 10 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes Richard Osman - IMDb IMDb 17 January 2017 4:34 PM, UTC NEWS Richard Osman was born on November 28, 1970 in Billericay, Essex, England. He is known for his work on Pointless (2009), Pointless Celebrities (2010) and Beat the Nation (2004). See full bio » Born: Famous Directors: From Sundance to Prominence From Christopher Nolan to Quentin Tarantino and every Coen brother in between, many of today's most popular directors got their start at the Sundance Film Festival . Here's a list of some of the biggest names to go from Sundance to Hollywood prominence. a list of 142 people created 24 Jun 2013 a list of 4 people created 9 months ago a list of 1955 people created 4 months ago Do you have a demo reel?

Add it to your IMDbPage How much of Richard Osman's work have you seen? User Polls Pointless Celebrities Himself - Assistant / Himself / Himself - Presenter (2010-2016) - Episode #1.1 (2005) ... (executive producer) 2011-2013 10 O'Clock Live (TV Series) (executive producer - 33 episodes) 2010 Alternative Election Night (TV Movie) (executive producer) 2004 Ban This Filth (TV Series) (executive producer - 6 episodes) 1999 Boyz Unlimited (TV Series) (producer) Hide - Episode #10.5 (2014) ...

(additional questions) 2011/II Winter Wipeout (TV Series) (script editor) Total Wipeout (TV Series) (script editor - 36 episodes, 2009 - 2011) (program associate - 9 episodes, 2009) 1999 Boyz Unlimited (TV Series) (co-creator) 1995 For Amusement Only (TV Series) (series writer - 12 episodes) 2015 Danger Mouse (TV Series) Professor Strontium P. Jellyfishowitz 2014 Not Going Out (TV Series) Richard Osman 2016-2017 Insert Name Here (TV Series) Himself - Team Captain - Ben (2017) ... Himself - Team Captain - Mary (2017) ... Himself - Team Captain - Alex (2017) ... Himself - Team Captain - Christmas Special (2016) ... Himself - Team Captain - Chris (2016) ...

Himself - Team Captain 2010-2016 Pointless Celebrities (TV Series) Himself - Assistant / Himself / Himself - Presenter 2016 The Last Leg (TV Series) Himself - Guest 2014-2016 The One Show (TV Series) Himself / Himself - Guest 2015 Loose Women (TV Series) Himself 2015 Alternative Election Night (TV Movie) Himself - Presenter 2014-2015 World Championship Snooker (TV Series) Himself - Potless Presenter / Himself - Celebrity Player / Himself - Celebrity Predictions / ... - Episode #1.4 (2014) ... Himself - Co-creator & Co-host, Pointless - Episode #1.3 (2014) ... Himself - Co-creator & Co-host, Pointless - Episode #1.2 (2014) ...

Himself - Co-creator & Co-host, Pointless 2014 All About TWO (TV Movie) Himself 2014 Room 101 (TV Series) Himself 2013 Doctor Who Live: The Afterparty (TV Movie documentary) Himself (uncredited) 2013 The Boat Race (TV Series) Himself - Guest 2012 Only Connect (TV Series) Himself - Fowls 2012 10 O'Clock Live (TV Series) Himself - Episode #46.11 (2013) ... Himself - Guest Presenter 2015 Backchat (TV Series) Did You Know? Personal Quote: The overnights answer all the questions that can sometimes leave us baffled about television. Why did that show I love get axed? Why does that show I hate keep returning? How does Piers Morgan keep getting work? See more » Trivia: The first album he bought was "Kings of the Wild Frontier" by Adam and the Ants (by a remarkable coincidence, that was also Alexander Armstrong 's first album). See more » Trademark:

Question: Who is Alexander Armstrong's seated assistant on the quiz show 'Pointless'?
Answer: RICHARD OSMAN